


Of Fighting Sleep and Familiar Comfort

by SabbyStarlight



Series: Sleepy Boys [2]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: And Jack is a good dad, Fluff, Gen, Hope you're in the mood for some super soft Jack, Mac needs to fall asleep, Whump adjacent, cause that's all this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:42:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24896362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SabbyStarlight/pseuds/SabbyStarlight
Summary: Interrogation Resistance Training has the unfortunate side effect of making it very difficult to be put to sleep.  Good thing Mac has Jack.
Series: Sleepy Boys [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1735585
Comments: 28
Kudos: 69





	Of Fighting Sleep and Familiar Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still not entirely happy with this, but I can't place a finger on what's bothering me about it so I'm posting it anyway. It might just be the lack of actual whump cause this is just pure super soft comfort. But I needed something easy to get me back into writing after a few months of basically writing nothing so, here's this!

Half an hour past the time Mac's surgery was scheduled to begin, the door connecting the outpatient wing of the medical floor to the waiting room swung open and Jack smiled. "He fightin' it?" He asked casually, turning a page on the magazine he was pretending to read, not bothering to look up as he flipped through the glossy pages. "Told you he would. Shoulda just let me go back with him to start with, saved everyone some time and him a lot of stress'." 

"We're willing to let a lot of policies slide, Agent Dalton," The nurse, who Jack recognized as a familiar member of the Phoenix Med surgical team, sighed. "With what you do on a daily basis? We have to. But there are some rules even you can't break. You're not supposed to be back there-"

"But you're gonna let me anyway," Jack finally looked up with a knowing smile, gathering his sunglasses and cellphone from the end table next to him. "Cause you realized that I was right and he ain't gonna go to sleep in there on his own."

"Just... can you help, please?"

"Lead the way," Jack nodded, wondering why they had waited as long as they had to ask for his help in the first place. "I'll come find you once he's good and out. Don't come in to check. You barge in here and he's almost asleep, that's only gonna amp his stress level right back up and undo all my handwork, you hear?" 

He waited until he received a nod of confirmation and he was the only one in the hallway before entering the small private room. His heart jolted at the way Mac flinched at the sound of the door handle. "I hear you're being a little punk and refusin' to go to sleep," Jack crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame with a smile, perfectly feigned nonchalance. 

"Not on purpose," Mac's cheeks turned red as he grinned back at Jack, breathing a sigh of relief at the familiar presence. "Just... can't shut my brain off. It's dumb, I know. Sorry." 

"Naw, don't worry 'bout it," Jack assured, grabbing a chair out of the corner of the room and flipping it around to rest his arms on the back as he sat down beside Mac. "Ain't your fault. You've spent how many years doin' this job? All that training, teaching yourself to withstand things a normal person shouldn't be able to endure. All those mandatory interrogation classes they send you through, buildin' up your resistance to situations like this, just with the stakes a little bit more raised. What'd they expect? You to just forget all that when it's convenient for them?" 

"Still," Mac sighed in frustration. "I'm holding everyone up. Not just the medical staff, but there's people who have appointments after me, and now they're going to be pushed back because my stupid brain won't shut off." 

"Hey, now, that brain of yours is the furthest thing from stupid something can be," Jack scolded. "And you can't keep thinkin' like that, you're only gonna get yourself more worked up. You gotta calm down, kiddo." 

"I wasn't nervous," Mac insisted, reiterating what he had been saying anytime the upcoming surgery had been mentioned in the past weeks. "I really wasn't. But I guess it got a little too real when we got here and things actually started. I'm not usually awake for this part, you know? Or if I am I'm hurting too bad to care. It's totally different when it's a scheduled thing and I'm left thinking about it." 

"I get that," Jack smiled, knowing that arguing about it would only make Mac more embarrassed and stress him out more. "I really do. But it's no big deal. You and me, we'll be headin' back home in a couple hours. A day or two hurtin' a little, being your typical post-op, cranky, kinda clingy self and then it's basically a paid two-week vacation after that. Nothin' but smooth sailing. But we gotta get you calmed down so you can crash first, okay? Have to make it through the boss level to get to the bonus round, if you catch my drift. So you gotta stop fightin' it. You trust me?" 

"Of course I trust you..." Mac frowned, rethinking his words as his forehead scrunched up in confusion while he watched Jack slip one arm and then the other out of his long-sleeved green buttondown, leaving him in just a black t-shirt. "Wait, maybe I don't. Why are you taking your clothes off?"

"Chill," Jack huffed a laugh as he began folding the shirt in his hands. "You're supposed to be sleeping, remember?" 

"That doesn't answer my question." 

"Here," Mac watched warily out of the corner of his eye as Jack placed the shirt at his shoulder, pulled one of the sleeves free from the neat folds, and draped it over Mac's eyes, effectively cutting off his view of anything else that was happening. 

"Okay, seriously," Mac shook his head hard enough to dislodge the shirt. "What are you doing?" 

"Calm down," Jack scolded, placing the shirt back into place. "We gotta get you relaxed enough to fall asleep. Oldest trick in the book. If it's good enough for a spooked horse of mine back on the ranch, it's good enough for my kid." 

"I... feel like there was an insult somewhere in there but... You know I'm not a horse, right?" Mac asked, forehead crinkling in a frown and choosing to ignore the fact that Jack had just called him his kid. 

"You know you're supposed to be asleep, right?" Jack replied with a smirk. "Settle back down there. You said you trusted me, let me help."

"This is weird, Jack," Mac protested. "It's not going to help." 

"And you're a weird dude, so it's perfect," Jack countered with a smile. "It can't make you any more awake, so hush up and let me try. What's the worst that can happen?" 

Mac didn't have to voice that he was worried about looking ridiculous, on top of already appearing weak, Jack picked up on the discomfort instantly. "Nobody's gonna say anything." He promised. "Not with me around. They know better. 'Sides, there ain't even anyone around to see us anyway. It's just you and me, alright?" 

"Still weird," Mac muttered under his breath, as some of the tension leaked from his shoulders at Jack's assurance. It still wasn't enough progress for Jack. 

"You gotta relax, buddy," A gentle hand reached out and began rubbing at the knotted muscles of Mac's shoulders. "It's no big deal, don't go gettin' yourself all worked up over nothing." 

"You shouldn't have to do this though," Mac turned his head towards the sound of Jack's voice, giving in this time and leaving the shirt sleeve in place. "I shouldn't need you to hold my hand to get through this." 

"Hey, now, last time I checked I wasn't holdin' your hand yet," Jack smiled. "Though that ain't a bad backup plan if you think it'll help. I'll really commit to it too, fingers intertwined, thumb runnin' over your knuckles, whatever you want dude, I'm down." 

"You know what I mean, Jack." 

"I do," Jack agreed. "But I also know that as useful as that big brain of yours is, it likes to work overtime on makin' you feel like you don't deserve help. Even when you need it. Which is what I'm here for. And I don't mind it, Mac. Not one bit. I haven't got tired of helpin' you out of tight spots in the past, what, it's been almost a decade now, right? I ain't gonna start changin' now." 

"I know," Mac sighed. "I just hate having to ask you to-" 

"You didn't ask," Jack interrupted. "You don't have to. Cause I'm here. It's my job to know what you need without you having to ask." 

"Don't remember putting me to sleep being in your list of job requirements when we signed up," Mac scoffed and Jack grinned. Be it his familiar presence or the drugs finally getting the upper hand, Mac's shoulders were finally beginning to relax beneath his hands. 

"Didn't have to be, cause I swore to protect you. Be that from insurgents or hitmen or terrorists or the thoughts in your own head." Jack reminded him softly. "And that's all this is. It's not your fault, bud. There's nothing wrong with needing me to help you through this. You don't feel safe. You're exposed and nervous and we both know you don't have a very high tolerance for meds on a good day. But that's okay, that's why I'm here. I ain't gonna let anything happen to you." 

"Wish you could stay," Mac whispered, and judging by the way some of the tension Jack had wrestled away from his boy came slamming back into him, he hadn't intended to say it out loud. Yet another reason Mac hated drugs, Jack remembered fondly, was because they completely erased his filter, letting any though slip out unwarranted. 

"Me too, pal," Jack let a hand slide up Mac's neck to brush through the hair behind his ear. "But hey, you won't even know I'm gone. Just go on to sleep, I gotcha. Next thing you know it'll all be over and I'll be right back here like I never left." 

Whatever Mac was going to say to that was cut off by a yawn. 

"Looks like they're finally starting to work, huh?" Jack smiled. "Don't fight it. You're safe." 

Mac lifted a hand, heavy and uncoordinated, to shove the shirt sleeve away from his eyes, squinting up at Jack in the sudden brightness. 

"Hey, now," Jack scolded. "Thought we were past me havin' to fight you on that?" 

"Had to see if you were really here," Mac said softly, voice trailing off as his eyes fluttered closed once more. "Needed to be sure." 

"I'm here," Jack promised, reclaiming the shirt that Mac was through using and hurriedly wiping at his own eyes with it for a moment. "Get some rest, I'm right here." 

"When I wake up too, right?" 

"Always," Jack assured, brushing a strand of blonde hair that his shirt had pulled out of place back into order. It never failed to amaze him how young Mac looked when the universe dealt them yet another bad hand and he winded up in Medical again. Vulnerable and unsure, he looked too much like what Jack could only assume Mac had looked like as an actual kid and he was once more left wondering how anyone, let alone his father, could up and leave him. “It’s okay, buddy. I’ll be right here.” 

Mac smiled, a sleepy, soft, upward tug of his lips, as he finally drifted off, knowing he was safe. 

Jack waited, afraid to move until he was sure Mac was actually out, unwilling to break the hard-won, peaceful spell that had fallen over the room. He slowly counted the seconds, making sure, and kept his movements slow as he leaned forward, sending one last protective glance at the door, making sure it was still firmly closed before pressing a kiss to Mac’s forehead. “Sweet dreams, kiddo.”


End file.
